Grooving with Afro-Colombian Cumbia

Dance Baile (Chonta Records Chon 001, 2005)

Chonta Records, a new record label based in New York, has certainly made a great impression with its first release. Dance Baile by Folklore Urbano automatically became an editor's pick at World Music Central for top 10 albums of 2005.
Led by keyboardist Pablo Mayor, Folklore Urbano is composed of primarily Colombian musicians living in the New York area. They have extracted the best from Colombian roots music, combining it with jazz and world beat rhythms. The result is explosive.

One of the styles practiced by Folklore Urbano is the cumbia. Not the cheesy commercial kind, but the rootsy slow-paced Afro-Colombian kind. There are also sounds from the Pacific area, including the use of the marimba, which is popular with the lesser known Pacific Coast Colombian bands.